A social perspective of knowledge-based innovation: mobility and agglomeration. Introduction to the special section
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A social perspective of knowledge‑based innovation: mobility and agglomeration. Introduction to the special section Lara Agostini1 · Federico Caviggioli2 · Francesco Galati3 · Barbara Bigliardi3
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019
Abstract This paper introduces the special section, which aims to shed new light on the dynamics of knowledge generation and transfer with respect to human and geographical dimensions. We first provide a review of the state of the art in the two research areas, using bibliometric techniques, with the aim of tracing the evolution of the literature. We proceed by identifying some promising areas for future research and by explaining how the manuscripts included in this special section can contribute toward bridging some of the gaps that have emerged in the literature. Keywords Knowledge-based innovation · Regional studies · Migration · Agglomeration · Regional absorptive capacity JEL Classification O33 · O31
1 Introduction Scholars assume that stocks of both human capital and specialized knowledge have a positive impact on innovation and, in turn, on economic growth (Huggins and Thompson 2017). In particular, the investigation of knowledge flows and innovation across the economics, geographical and management fields has taken on a prominent role (e.g. Fujita and Thisse 2013; Arslan et al. 2014) and this debate continues to be at the forefront of academic research. This special section aims to contribute to such a stream of literature by providing further insights into the dynamics of knowledge generation and transfer by looking at the human
* Federico Caviggioli [email protected] 1
Department of Management and Engineering, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
2
Department of Management and Production Engineering (DIGEP), Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
3
Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze, 181/A, 43124 Parma, Italy
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and geographical dimensions. Human movements across firms and geographical areas, as well as the concentration of knowledge and resources at different regional levels can be considered two different but related phenomena that play major roles in the domain of innovation and knowledge transfer. Both human capital and geographical proximity facilitate the transfer of knowledge, in particular the tacit one (Pavitt 1998), and foster innovation (Boschma 2005). On the basis of such premises, two topics are considered here: the first includes mobility, which encompasses both workplace changes within or between labor markets (Coccia 2008; Eriksson et al. 2008), and migration phenomena across and within countries; the second topic is agglomeration, here considered as the spatial concentration of goods, firms, workers and knowledge (Fujita and Thisse 2013). As far as the former is concerned, the mobility of workers plays a crucial role in knowledge diffusion and technology transfer (Dasgupta 2012; Møen 2005; Kaiser et al. 201
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